97 tdi won't start!

[socketsocks]

washed my car last night, nothing crazy, just a quick rinse with a low pressure hose after and drove the car home. did a shop. came back home, no problem.

went to start it this morning and it croaked, starter was hesitant, like the battery was low or out of fuel and it only turned a few times, then i retried the ignition and it just clicked. figured it was the battery, so took it out and recharged it (only took 30 minutes till it was fully charged) voltage was 12.9, going down to 12.66 and staying there when i had it in the car. still, no cranking of the starter, just a click from the relay.

searched for loose wires, corroded earths, anything suspect and cleaned loads of things up, but still nada, so been researching the vw forums for hours now and it sounds like it might be something to do with the ignition switch wearing out and not delivering full votage, or the starter solenoid.

strange thing is that when i turn the key to on - the glowplug light comes on, but on for 1/2 a sec (usually its 2-3 secs), and there is a double click from the fuel pump at this point (thought it was a relay but its not) then when i turn the key to crank, the lights dim (but the battery voltage does not drop from 12.6) and a relay clicks, but the starter doesn't turn and i can't hear if the solenoid clicks from the driver seat/door.

please advise. i read about the 109 relay problems but its the new grey one and it looks fine inside.

any help much appreciated, need to be mobile again asap.

cheers

[socketsocks]

checked today and still the same, but the battery had dropped to 12.23v and when connecting the positive bat cable to the terminal there was a little spark and it turns out that there is 160ma flowing draining the battery. so it looks like this might be the problem, need to test it with a good battery to see if its just a low voltage causing problems.

although is this 160ma current drain normal ? i would have thought it would be less for the clock and alarm etc, don't use the alarm but i guess it should only use 50ma max ?

[socketsocks]

was the starter. wire from solenoid to drive was split in 2, need to find a new bit or buy another starter is s742 the right one for a ahu 97 tdi?